I Met the Ditch Today...and I Have a Question

[graymojocat]

My class isn't till next weekend...I just put that out there because EVERYONE I meet online or in life asks me about the class.

So today I went out on the road for the first time. It was exciting. I didn't stall it, but the shifting wasn't so smooth. Anyway. I only got up to 40 because I don't want to overdo it or be too quick.
It's a fairly flat road in front of my house.
I went out and back and REALLY sucked at downshifting.
I went out again and when I did the u turn this time I thought I was going to stall and ended up in the ditch. I know I can pick the bike up, but I had my husband help me just to be safe.
It was kind of insulting that I did pretty well at a high speed but that I laid it down doing a u turn. You gotta love gravity, though.

My husband didn't have his gear with him (he drove the car down the road to help me pick it up) so I had to drive it back which was a good thing.
But I must not being doing too terrible because I successfully downshifted through all the gears on the way back.

So here are my questions:
1. Tell me about the brakes. I think I'm favoring the front brake. Any suggestions?
2. Tell me about shifting. It was pretty rough. How do I make it smooth? Also, how do I know for sure when to shift and downshift? (especially the downshifting).


I'm hoping that since everyone drops their bike at least once, that this is my once.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the parking lot to practice shifting and braking.

I'm having a great time, though!

[UTRider]

All my drops have been at a dead stop.

'79 yamaha when I pulled up on the grass at my apartment to get to the cement pad I parked on. stopped on the grass and it was wet. Foot hit the grass and down I went.

'95 Goldwing. Down three times when stopped. Try lifting up a 900 pound motorcycle!

And my new to me '04 vulcan. Pulled into my parking spot at my apartment building yesterday. Don't know what happened other than a brain fart. Did the 8 point turn to get facing the right way went to put the stand down and did a slow motion down to the ground. The 400 pound vulcan is much easier to lift than the Goldwing!

The downshifting will come when your used to the "sound" of the bike (or if it has a tac, knowing what rpms are best for what geer.)

Feeling any better on the dropping it?

[mazer]

I think you are being too hard on yourself. It is tough learning and sometimes those slower speeds make it harder to control the bike. You just get back on and keep practicing. It sounds like you are doing all the right things.
Spend time on the bike, it is the only way you will learn how your bike sounds and feels and you will get the hang of when to shift just like a car.

[motokid]

...

So here are my questions:
1. Tell me about the brakes. I think I'm favoring the front brake. Any suggestions?

You are doing well. However for the slow speed control, use the clutch and keep it in the friction zone, and control a speed wit ha little back brake if necessary. Just a little or no gas. For U turn situation is very important to look well into the turn, where you want to go. Also, keep in mind that in order to get out from any bad situation, first thing to do is to squeeze both levers.

[Batan]

The class and practice should sort out a lot of low speed stuff. The rest is practice. As for lifting the bike, even a heavy one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPjYweKeiLk

And no need for it to be insulting, most of drops are at low or no speed at all. Common one is stalling while taking off, especially with the handle bars turned a bit. The bike stalls, it locks in place(if the clutch is not in) and off to the side it goes...

[WVUbdsrfl]

To me it would make sense and couldn't hurt to practice lifting your downed bike. So if you come to a situation where it gets dropped again you would be comfortable lifting it.

What I would to practice, if I had a bike, would be to gently lower it onto its side, having someone to help would be a plus. Then just go from there using the technique from above video.


I've never really rode before, so I can't really say much about your shifting and other riding techniques.
But if shifting on a bike is anywhere close to shifting in a cage I can say this:
when up shifting make sure you let the clutch back out smoothly while gradually applying gas at the same time.
When you down shift you will want to let the clutch out slowly too so the engine has time to adjust to the speed of the transmission.

Again, I've never rode before. Thats just my experience with automobiles.
Hopefully someone can chime in or correct me if I'm wrong.

[matthew5656]

I'd focus on smoothing out your up shift technique before you worry too much about down shifting. Ease on the brakes, pull the clutch, look straight ahead, and you will be at a stop in no time.

Take everything one mile at a time, well..that's just me.

[MZ33]

Common one is stalling while taking off, especially with the handle bars turned a bit. The bike stalls, it locks in place(if the clutch is not in) and off to the side it goes

Uh, that would be me, all right!

I'm assuming it wasn't a concrete ditch, so hopefully neither you nor your bike took a scratch. Wait the extra week for class to start, then you'll have a much better idea of what to practice for low-speed turns afterward, without over-thinking or learning bad habits first.

[graymojocat]

Yeah. It was a grass ditch. The heat shield bent a little and I think the bruise on my knee came from it, but I bruise easily so I can't be sure where the bruise actually came from.

Today was better, though. I had trouble starting. The whole being at a stop and getting into first and moving without stalling is getting to me. Our driveway is gravel, which makes it more difficult (in my mind) because I have this fear that I'm going to start to go and not get any traction and then I end up stalling anyway or eating gravel.

But aside from that I got the upshifting to go much better today. Yay me!

[Dragonhawk]

So here are my questions:
1. Tell me about the brakes. I think I'm favoring the front brake. Any suggestions?

Stop that.

2. Tell me about shifting. It was pretty rough. How do I make it smooth? Also, how do I know for sure when to shift and downshift? (especially the downshifting).

Practice.